I missed out on the campaign and given up. If this case goes up for retail before July, I'm going to cancel my dan case preorder that is supposed to ship 7/1/17!
Production Dr Zaber Sentry - Console-sized gaming PC case project
- Thread starter ZombiPL
- Start date
I didn't think any were actually shipping on that date and that the retailers were mistaken. I saw the other day they updated the date to December.
It's probably enough, but that wasn't my point. 1080ti is a 250W card. Please remember Sentry is below 7 liter pc case. It means if you add to this for example a 100W+ CPU and some hot SSD's you will get a lot of heat, which you should remove somehow. In such small volume it isn't easy, that is why i wrote you have to know what you are doing when you decide to install so power-hungry components.
With PICO PSU's you are already limiting the power for your GPU. If so, why you simply don't buy short graphics card and try to fit AIO Liquid cooling for CPU like we did in our experimental build?
12th week of Sentry manufacturing process
This week's update we are dedicating to answer your questions about manufacturing and shipping process. We will cover each subject point-by-point.
Ok. Let's start:
1) Do not worry about your order not being fulfilled. We have calculated everything in terms of money and every backer will get his Sentry. Production and shipping process needs just a little bit more time than we estimated.
2) We are processing 150 cases per transport (according to our production scheme), so we could send alternately black and white units.
3) April never was a time of delivery for all the packages, but it was an estimated month when we should start the shipping process. Indiegogo doesn't show it properly as in campaigner back-end, that is why we have shown our production scheme as a graphic in campaign story and explained it several times before.
4) We are very sorry that the whole production and shipping process takes us so long, but paperwork, logistics and quality control of some elements needs more time than we expected. This week to the increasing number of external factors causing delays we had to add dealing with transport companies who do not treat right your packages. It looks like we are able to assembly 150 cases in one week, but we need almost whole 2nd week to do the paperwork and solve problems with previous transports. Because of all that it is obvious we need almost 2 weeks (instead of previously stated 1 week) to manufacture and send each transport of 150 cases. Once again, we are sorry for this situation.
5) We already sent 1st transport of 150 black Sentry cases and this week we will send 2nd transport with white ones. We will try to send 3rd shippment at the turn of May and June, so we could reach efficiency level of 450 units per month. If it will be possible, then it is also possible we could close the indiegogo shippments at the beginning of July.
6) Most of packages to countries outside EU are being sent with economical shipping, so it may take over a month for them to be delivered. Courier shipping would cost more than $100.
7) If you didn't get your package tracking number, it means we didn't process your order yet. Please be patient.
8) We are very short of time, so if it is possible, ask your questions in the forum in the first place.
Bonus photos of assembled and packed white cases:
Quality is important than shipping fast ^-^ keep up the great work @ZombiPL
It sounds like the fourth consignment could now be white instead of black as originally planned. I guess I'll have to pencil in the week of the 12th as possible arrival time as well as the end of June and start of July.
Sentry is more important than a Holiday right?
Sentry is more important than a Holiday right?
13th week of Sentry manufacturing process
Finally weekend
Almost all packages from 2nd 150 cases transport sent. Everyone within this range of units should get an email with tracking number.
We received some information about bad package treatment by the courier companies, so we had to make some improvements:
a) because black stretch foli makes some trouble with verification of the after shipment package condition, we decided we will use it only for those units which might be sent by the sea transport. For other forms of shipment we will pack Sentry without this foil. It means, when you will receive your package, you shouldn't worry that you got the carton box without external black wrap. Just check the external condition of the package.
b) we had one situation when our backer received a package which was damaged by some sort of sharp tool, probably hook. We started our investigation and it turns out, that in some transport companies when the package for some reason is blocked on the transport line workers are using hooks to unstuck it and move forward. We had only one such situation, but we decided we have to protect next transports against similar damages and other connected problems. Firstly we ordered additional stickers with "no hooks" image. All packages will have those graphics on two biggest sides. Secondly, we bought a banding machine for 15mm polypropylene tape instead adhesive tape which we used before. It will provide always the same amount of force for holding the sides of the transport boxes together and it shouldn't extend itself in different transport conditions. We hope this will be enough to prevent future problems.
Meanwhile, when we were waiting for couriers to pick your packages, we started the preparations for assembling next 150 Sentry cases. This time the black ones.
At the end we would like to ask for some feedback from everyone who already received their cases. Only few people wrote us an information about the shape of the package they got from the courier. We will be very grateful if after receiving your Sentry you could write us even a short email with notification about the internal and external box condition. We have many more packages to send and if there are some mistakes we make, it would be great if we could avoid them for future transports. Thank you.
Aweesome!
I can't wait to buy one on the next batch release/retail
I can't wait to buy one on the next batch release/retail
As soon as we will finish sending packages to everyone who backed our indiegogo campaign (probably July for first retail batch).
Awesome, huge congrats on the successful campaign! I look forward to seeing the build threads.
First i would like to congratulate you guys for this undertaking, it seens an amazing product, really well designed and made.
But what i would like to know is: when you guys get into the retailing fase, will it be something small and limited, or you guys are aiming for something close to mass distribution? Maybe we could try to buy direct from you maybe?
Bcoz just came to know about Sentry and this is something i have being looking for to have, but i am down in South America and i kinda worry that the logistics might make it possible for me to buy one... =/
Hi guys!
Just received my white Sentry, and wanted to write a couple words about the unboxing experience and my first impressions. I'll be quoting from the post that I wrote on [H]ardforum:
Thanks, guys!
Just received my white Sentry, and wanted to write a couple words about the unboxing experience and my first impressions. I'll be quoting from the post that I wrote on [H]ardforum:
Since there have been a lot of posts about building in the Sentry, but not yet one about unboxing, I figure I'll cover that. (Especially since I still need a couple parts before I can build in it.
So, without further ado, here it goes:
So.
The first thing that you see when you get your Sentry is... a sticker letting you know that you missed your Sentry.
Then you go to the FedEx building, only to be told that despite what the sticker they left you said, and despite the fact that yes, they do have your package in the facility, you have to wait for it to be delivered the next day. Thanks, FedEx.
So then you lie in wait for the postman. When I opened my door to him, he didn't even have the package with him - he had filled out another sticker on his truck and was sneaking up to leave it on my door again. Thankfully my supremely effective biological-based security alarm (Read: noisy-ass dogs) let me know he was up to his tricks again.
And holy cow! You guys were serious about this being a large box. It was actually sort of hilarious to me that such an intentionally tiny PC case came in such a huge shipping container; I was half expecting it to be nothing but nested boxes, like a series of matryoska dolls.
(Sorry for not giving a better sense of scale, and for the potato-quality pictures, but, erm... I guess you can tell how large it is by the unintentional toes? The good news is that it's so blurry that I don't even have to worry about anybody seeing my address!
By the way, Zombi and Saper, since you guys asked - this was the side of the package that was the most beaten up. Apparently the barbarians know from the hundreds of hours I sunk into Civilization III as a kid that I'm not to be messed with, and so they left my package alone.
Opening it up, we find inside a foam-protected, plastic wrapped case. Good job on the packaging by the way; it doesn't waste nearly so much material as a lot of what I've seen, but still did a perfect job of protecting the contents. *(Again, sorry about the toes. I was a bit too excited to focus on taking perfect photos.)
I didn't take a picture of the black, Sentry-branded plastic bag that the actual packaging was inside, but it actually has carrying handles, which was a pretty cool touch.
The case inside has a very clean shrink-wrap job, and really looks as though it should be in a textbook for industrial design; it's very clean and conveys every single bit of information it ought to:
My hands were shaking as I was opening it up; I didn't want to scratch the cardboard box.
The only complaint that I had during the entire process came here: Once the plastic was off, I actually had to be very gentle trying to get the box itself open, because every side of the lid fits inside the main box, so trying to pull it out without bending the cardboard took a second. (But really, I'm just nitpicking. The fit and finish was as nice as opening up a Noctua cooler, and I'd previously thought they were on a level of their own when it came to their packaging.)
One thing that I felt was a particularly nice touch was the note written on the front flap:
Inside you'll find a postcard, which is actually really neat, and a list of the parts included. I'm going to tattle on myself here because you'll find it funny: This picture took me a little while to get right, because the parts list is super glossy... to the point where, when I opened up the box, I went, "Why did they give me a sheet of stickers with the included screws on them?"
(No, I'm serious. It looks exactly like a sheet of stickers.)
I will say that the QR code is a really nice touch - it links to the manual on the zaber.com.pl website. The only thing that I might suggest is putting a small label for what it's a QR code for on the next revision... but since you have it right under the logo, that's really not a big deal.
Honestly, I like this way better than having a paper copy of the manual. It's always going to be up-to-date, and I can easily access it on my phone and find what I need instead of flipping through a paper booklet looking for the one tiny detail that actually matters.
Next up, off comes the sleek bag protecting the case from scratches. (And again, I really like the attention paid to branding here; it's all very slick.)
The case comes with (in counter-clockwise order, starting from the bottom left):
1) The mounting bracket for the primary two SSDs.
2) The secondary bracket for additional 2.5" drives in the GPU bay
3) The case badge plus rivets. (This will probably come preinstalled on future cases - I'd requested an option on mine.)
4) A bag of all the screws that you could possibly wish for - all seperated into their own baggies so that you don't have to hunt through a pile to find the right screw. (And possibly use one that's slightly incorrect and strip something while you're at it... yeah, I've done that before.)
5) All the necessary hardware to use the case horizontally. Again, I appreciate that this is separate, because it lets me keep everything in one spot in case I ever want to use the case that way. (And I'm probably not using the plastic plugs for the mounting holes. I'm weird that way.)
6) The USB 3.0 front panel connector. I was actually quite surprised to see that the cable is black; that's a nice little touch that I now recall having been mentioned at some point.
7) The flexible PCIe extender. I have to say, even though it makes perfect sense logically, I was sort of shocked that it was as short as it is.
(For those of you who are curious, I have an excellent quality Samtec PCIe riser that I'll be comparing to this one.)
Oh, and here's a bit of advice for you. When you're super excited to play with your new toy, but you can't seem to figure out why the stand won't attach correctly... those extra two holes are actually there for a reason. It took me an embarrassing amount of time to realize that.
Now that you've seen all the pretty shots of the Sentry, for those of you who are curious, here's what I plan on actually doing with it:
This is the computer that it will be replacing - an ivy bridge based mini ITX system using an original Raven RVZ-01. Notice how one of the rubber feet (which are only pressed on) got lost a long time ago during transport, and has since been replaced by a folded Kleenex. (and how one of the case filters fell off in a parking lot and wasn't found until it had been run over...)
This computer is currently sitting in my mothers' house, replacing an 8-year old Phenom II x2 system. She considers it to be a very nice upgrade which lets her grade her students' papers much faster, so at least it's still being useful.
This is the system that will be going into the Sentry - a Kaby Lake i3-7350K. (Which is currently sitting at 4.7GHz with ease, not even breaking 75c... and that's before delidding it. My goal is to get 5.0Ghz and keep it below 75c inside the case.) The graphics card actually belongs to a friend - his motherboard went kaput, we thought it fried his graphics card, he gave it to me after buying a whole new system, and after repairing a fan, it works perfectly. Unfortunately, I haven't checked that it'll fit inside the Sentry, and don't necessarily want it anyways. It's probably going up on Craigslist / Ebay.
That is my venerable old 670, which served me quite well for many a year, plus the cooler off of a GTX 1080. My plan is to buy a founders' edition GTX 1070 and replace the stock cooler with the one from the 1080, which has the vapor chamber that the 1070's heatsink is missing. Anybody want some old graphics cards or nice sound cards?
Oh, and the apparently obligatory dog?
She thought the case was nearly as interesting as I did, until she got too curious and started licking the damn thing. Well, I guess it really is mine now...
So yeah, my Sentry is currently sitting next to me, absolutely taunting me. I left my old SFX-L power supply in the computer I gave to my mother, and have been using the 550w Antec power supply that was in her computer. (It's lasted for freaking ever, I'm rather impressed by it.) However, that means that I can't actually build in the Sentry yet!
I've got a Corsair SF450 on the way; I'll see how noisy it is, and then replace the fan with a Noctua controlled by the motherboard if I need to. I'll be purchasing a GTX 1070 FE, and using that 1080 cooler on it; the 250W vapor chamber cooler should do an excellent job of keeping it cool even during the hot desert summer. Finally, when I have money, I'll be upgrading my storage with an M.2 boot drive and a large, cheap 2.5" SSD so that I can be free of mechanical storage altogether.
Final thoughts? I can't stop touching the case. I absolutely love the powder coating on the finish; it's incredibly well done. Everything fits together perfectly; there's not even any wiggle or alignment gap between the stand and the case.
Thanks, guys!
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^Sorry about that quote break, by the way. Apparently I'm not allowed to edit to remove it, because the content is spam-like or inappropriate. If a mod sees this, would you mind taking care of it? Thanks.
